


We are Each Given a Gift

by Gods_Writing_Fan



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Ezran is a good bro, Gen, Like alters the entire world huge, M/M, Mpreg, Not Rayllum compliant, Post-Season 3 (Dragon Prince), Reunions, Season 3 Spoilers, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, There's a bigger story, Worldbuilding, but no sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 17,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21591190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gods_Writing_Fan/pseuds/Gods_Writing_Fan
Summary: Only elves have arcanum, they thought. Only elves can be mages, they thought. Only elves can be Gifted, they thought. Then Callum happened.
Relationships: Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Rayla & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Runaan/Ethari, Runaan/Tinker | Necklace Elf (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 284





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, basically I fell in love with Ethari on sight and just really wanted to use him for my favorite trope of all time. But then Callum got involved and the worldbuilding speculations ran away with me and I kept writing because Dragon Prince needs more good fanfiction. Also, don't expect sex scenes. Just don't. But please feel free to comment and keep my creative juices flowing!

Riding the giant Ambler was pretty boring. It was just an endless swaying motion and sand everywhere you looked. Honestly, going through the forest had been way more interesting and even riding that crazy feather-dog-deer thing had at least needed his full attention. Callum opened his mouth to ask Rayla something about the enchantment over her home, then shut it when he saw the expression on his friend’s face. Talking about most elf-related things was now a depressing idea. So Callum let his mind roam around for a safe-ish topic and came up with “so, what was up with your, uh, dad, I guess? Or is he your uncle?”

“You can just call him Ethari,” answered the sullen moonshadow elf. “And what do you mean? He was fine.”

“Well, I’ve seen a lot of elves by now, but none that were so…” He trailed off and fidgeted with his hands.

Rayla looked at him with an eyebrow raised and a bit of a smirk on her face. “So…what?”

Callum flailed a bit more, a sight that amused Rayla. “Well, he looked kinda…” He trailed off again and motioned with his hand in front of his stomach, drawing a slight dome over his abdomen with his fingers.

Rolling her eyes, Rayla scoffed as she looked down at her feet. One of her boot laces was coming undone “He’s fine, he’s just pregnant. Though,” she continued, ignoring the stunned silence behind her as she fixed the laces. “I wasn’t expecting him to be so far along. He wasn’t showing at all when I left.”

She looked back at her companion and saw him frantically digging in his ears. “I’m sorry, I must have sand in my ears. I could have sworn you just said your dad was,” he paused, staring at her pleadingly, “pregnant? Is that an elf thing?”

A spark of mischief lit inside Rayla’s brain and she turned back to the desert, hiding the small smile playing around her mouth. “No, it’s more of a mage thing. Ethari’s really good at enchanting things like the flowers, and he uses a lot of magical materials to make his weapons and necklaces and such, so that’s why it happened to him. But he’s not the only one. Some mages work spells every day, so they get pregnant really fast. It’s like, the more they practice magic, the more likely it is to happen to them. Some of the ones I’ve heard of aren’t much older than us.”

She heard scrambling behind her and suddenly Callum was right in her face, looking a bit frantic. “But there are plenty of human mages and it’s never happened to them. So it’s just an elf mage thing, right?”

_Got him hook, line, and sinker._ “Well, you have to use primal magic for it to happen, and humans can’t do that, except for you. I guess we’ll have to wait and see, right? Although, we probably won’t have to wait for that long, with the way you keep practicing all the time.” _And there’s the blush,_ she chuckled inwardly as he turned red from the roots of his hair all the way past his collar.

He quickly backed away from her and returned to their pile of luggage, staring at her with something akin to horror on his suddenly pale face. “I’m never doing magic again,” he promised in a very high-pitched voice. She couldn’t hold it in anymore and let loose her laugh. At that sound, her friend relaxed from his panicked state and glowered at her. “Oh right, laugh at the human, sure.” He waited until her chuckling subsided, which took quite a while. In the end, they both were smiling, Rayla from her well-executed prank, Callum from hearing her laugh after too long without it. “But really, what’s up with him?” He asked again.

Her smile died. “That _is_ what’s up with him. Male elves who use magic intentionally sometimes get pregnant. I don’t really know why or how it happens, but it does. I doubt it’ll happen to you, though.”

Callum looked at her again, frown leaving his face for a more apprehensive expression. “Are you sure?” He pulled at the fabric over his middle, as if imagining what it might look like stretched out like Ethari’s top had been.

She rolled her eyes fondly. “You’ve only been doing magic for a few weeks. It took Ethari years for it to happen, and he’s the only one I know who’s gotten with child. I _was_ joking about some of what I said.”

They both relaxed after that, Callum reassured he was safe from the horrors of _babies_ and Rayla thinking about her guardian. With everything that had happened since the failed assassination, she had actually forgotten about the potential little girl or boy waiting back home for her. She’d been excited to meet them. “I wonder if you can un-ghost someone.” Or maybe, once Ethari told the village the truth, they wouldn’t make his baby do the spell too. Even if it was just one person, at least there would be someone from her old life who could still see her.


	2. How Happy You've Made Me

After several hours of celebrating the victorious end to the war, the adults, mostly their aunt, decided it was time for Callum and Ezran to get some rest. “You two have been through enough lately,” Gren translated. “You need rest.”

Callum opened his mouth to protest, but Ezran grabbed his hand and looked up at him. “I think we should all go to bed. The real work starts tomorrow.” 

With the dragon equivalent of a smirk, the queen pointed down a hallway. “My guards used the chambers that way,” she rumbled. “There are rooms enough for them there.” Rayla smiled at the thought of staying in the room her parents had once occupied as she and the boys went to find rooms. The hallway the queen had pointed towards was basically a row of caves with doors of all shapes and sizes fitted into the openings. Glowing moss set into niches in the walls kept the room illuminated, but Callum guessed from the persistent breeze that there was also a skylight somewhere to let in light during the day. 

Soren insisted they take the rooms all the way at the end of the hallway. The wind the young mage felt came from a window at the end of the hallway. It was actually a pretty big gap, big enough for someone to fall through if they weren’t careful. Or fly through, Callum remembered. He rubbed his arms and grinned. That spell was probably going to be one of his favorites. Rayla and the boys split after that, each taking rooms on the sides of the gap in the wall. Soren took the one next to the boys, but closer to the hallway’s entrance. Strategic, he said.

Ezran looked around and his mouth fell open a bit at what he saw. He’d been expecting a barren cave, maybe some more of those moss lights. That was not what he got. Directly in the middle of the room was a bed covered with a red quilt and what looked like very soft pillows. It was definitely big enough for the two of them. With a single look at each other, both boys shucked their boots and outerwear as fast as possible and climbed under the covers. Ezran was asleep within seconds, on his side facing his brother. A small croak sounded and Callum propped himself up on one elbow, looking over his brother’s hunched form to where Bait was sitting by the door. He rolled his eyes affectionately and lifted his corner of the blanket. “Alright, Bait, come on in.” The glow toad practically hopped into the bed and Callum curled up around his old amphibian friend, following his brother into sleep.

“Oh, I’m so happy! You finally learned how to fly!” Callum’s eyes snapped open and a beautiful blue sky greeted him. 

He looked down, and saw nothing. “AAAAAAHHHHHH!” He flailed his arms, screaming “Manus, Pluma, Volantis! Manus, Pluma, Volantis!”

“Don’t be silly, silly! You can’t conjure me here. But don’t worry, I won’t let you fall.” There it was again, that child-like voice. The words calmed Callum enough for him to realize that, while there didn’t seem to be anything supporting him, he wasn’t falling either. As his heart returned to a normal rhythm, he looked around for the source of the voice.

But there was no one, just him and the sky. He scanned the sky from the right to the left and, after bracing himself, looked down. Nothing. Then something soft brushed his cheek. He turned his head again, focusing closer, and finally saw a tiny songbird sitting on his shoulder. “Huh,” he shrugged internally, and held his hand close to his shoulder. The bird hopped onto his fingers and puffed its wings slightly. Quite charming, it was, with the pretty black and white stripes running from its tiny head all the way to its tail. Callum would have mistaken it for a normal songbird, except for the eyes. They were a pure blue, as blue as the sky around them. Wait, no, they were a stormy grey, or were they a dark midnight? The color seemed to change as the bird tilted its head. “That’s really cool,” he mumbled, bringing the bird a bit closer to inspect its eyes.

The flyer opened its beak and out came “Why thank you. I knew you’d like this form.” The prince dropped it in surprise. Still, the bird didn’t seem to mind, flying in a playful circle around his head and settling in his hair. “I’m so glad I finally get to talk to you. I’ve been waiting for a human for ages!”

Callum couldn’t help the awed smile as he reached up to stroke the bird’s wing gently, hoping he was hitting the right spot without being able to see it. “What are you,” he asked.

The sky filled with a breezy laugh coming from the top of his head. Now he could tell it was definitely coming from the songbird. “I’m the Sky Arcanum, silly. After all the effort you put into getting to know me, I thought you would recognize me.” He laughed at that, and that seemed to make the bird even happier. They chirped and flew around his head again, coming to hover in front of him. Callum raised his arm and the bird took up their perch again. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m really happy you got to know me. Once you made your first pair of wings, I knew I wanted to give you something special. Don’t worry, you’ll like it.” Then the bird flew off and the white faded as the dream ended.

Callum woke up to empty arms. Bait had migrated over the Ezran’s side of the bed and was fully buried under the covers, settled in the crook of the young king’s bent legs. His glow made it obvious even through the blanket. The prince took stock of the room and, realizing there was no way to see how early it was, got out of the bed and opened the door. In the hall, the moss lights had decreased their glow and a steady grey light came through the entrance to the outside. He walked to the slit and stared out. The sky was a dove grey, in that early morning stage where the sun has not yet risen, but the stars and moon were no longer visible. All there was, was the sky. “I’m really happy you got to know me.” 

He smiled and said to the great expanse, “I am too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this takes place after the climactic battle of Season Three. All uncharted from here! And I was mega-surprised from the comments. Everyone is so interested in Ethari. Man, you all have no idea how much fun I'm going to have with both him and Callum. I have so much planned for this!  
> But thanks for all the comments, it really makes me smile.


	3. Winning's Easy, Governing's Harder

Ezran leaned back a bit further in his chair and was very tempted to let his head thump against the back. Two months after the declaration of peace from himself and the Dragon Queen, and every meeting was still nonstop arguing. The topic of contention today was a frequent point of argument: Dark Magic. “How can we trust your people when we see you using our kin every time we turn around? You may decide to try and use us next,” one of the Skywing elves declared.

The young king glanced at his brother, hoping Callum would counter this. He was, after all, the kingdom’s go-to for anything magic related. The image of his awkward brother dressed in Viren’s long robes ran through Ezran’s head and he almost laughed out loud. “I agree that Dark Magic is doing no one any good. It hurts the people casting it and the magic isn’t as potent. Also,” he glared at the elf, “You’re overestimating how many people use it. Less than one percent of our population has access to the items needed for Dark Magic, let alone the knowledge of how to use it. And we are trying to change.” Ezran perked up. This part, he hadn’t heard before. “Ever since we told the public that it is possible to connect to an Arcanum through study, we’ve had several people come to the castle, wanting to learn how.” Callum looked at his brother. “Some of them have been very persistent.”

Ezran’s eyes widened. “You mean Valeria? I thought she just had a crush on you!”

The prince blushed to his ears and flailed. “No, no, no! She just wanted my help connecting with the Sky Arcanum. She really wants to fly.” The he saw the deadpan looks of the others at the table and quickly ceased flailing. Trying to regain his composure, he coughed into his fist and continued. “As I said, we already have candidates who wish to learn, but not the means to teach them. To know an Arcanum, you have to know it with your hand, head, and heart. The head and heart part students can learn on their own. There are people who already understand them.” His mind wandered back to a certain captain. “But to know it with your hand, you have to know what casting magic feels like, and that can only be done with a Primal Stone.”

The elf who brought up the topic was studying Callum more closely now, as was Ezran. He hadn’t heard any of this before. “That was my first experience with magic of any kind, and it’s why I chose not to perform Dark Magic, even after I lost the stone. But if we don’t give people a taste of what can be gained by learning an Arcanum, they’ll rely more on what they do know.”

“Then what do you propose,” another of the elves said. She was one of the sun elves who their aunt had picked as an emissary, and was more level headed than some of the others around the table.

Callum pushed back his chair and stood up. “I think, if we can somehow obtain Primal stones for all six sources of magic, people can learn which type they’re most compatible with. They can train here with me for a few weeks, learning what it feels like, the hand aspect. Then, we send them out into the world to learn the other parts and see what happens.” He shrugged and sat back down. “That’s how I learned, and I’m kind of the only example we have right now.”

With a scoff, the Skywing representative rose from the table. “We have already lost one primal stone to your kind. They are not cheap trinkets. Ask us again when you are a gifted mage, human. Then we will talk.” He then walked out of the room, several other delegates following behind. 

The boys watched them leave until the room was empty, save the two of them. “I don’t get it,” Callum complained with his chin cradled in one hand, elbow propped up on the table. “I learned the Sky Arcanum. I’m a primal mage, but that’s still not good enough. What, do I need more runes? What can I do to make them take us seriously?”

Ezran reached down and gave Bait a pat where he was sitting in the young king’s lap. “I don’t know, but it keeps coming up. Maybe you need to go back to Xadia and learn more magic or something. I think you should wait to leave until Rayla gets back, though. I need someone on my side with some magic at least.”.” Dislodging Bait from his seat, Ezran got up. “It’s time for lunch anyway. And you have somewhere else to be.”

Callum rolled his eyes as he also got up. “I told you Ez, I’m not going. It won’t be any different than the last three times you made me go.”

“Made you go where?” The boys turned around and, low and behold, another moonshadow elf stood in the doorway, though this one probably wouldn’t argue with them.

“Rayla,” Ezran exclaimed and ran forward to throw his arms around her waist. “You’re back! Were you able to get them to break the spell?”

She smiled and let go of the young king. “I’m no longer a ghost, if that’s the spell you mean.” 

Grabbing her hand, Callum asked, “why don’t you come have lunch with us? We just got out of a meeting.”

Ezran grabbed Rayla’s other hand and tugged. “Oh no you don’t. You’re going to the healer, Callum. I’ll take care of Rayla.”

The elf got yanked in the other direction again when Callum argued. “I told you, it’s nothing.”

“Fainting is nothing?!” Rayla grabbed back her hands as Ezran continued to argue. “You’re always tired, you don’t eat, you keep getting dizzy, and yesterday you almost fainted in the middle of dinner! That is not nothing.”

Suddenly, Ralya got between the two brothers, eyes very wide. “Wait, that’s been happening to you?”

He looked everywhere but at her as he answered. “It’s nothing, I’m just tired from all the meetings and stuff. What I need is more sleep, not another meeting with the healer.” He glared at his brother.

“Are those your only symptoms,” Rayla asked quietly. Both boys looked at her and saw her nervously biting her lip. Okay, a nervous Rayla never signaled anything good.  
Ezran glared at his brother. “Anything else that’s nothing?”

Sheepishly, Callum rubbed the back of his head. “Well, there is one more, but it’s kinda embarrassing.” He tugged at his tunic.

Now that Rayla was looking, she noticed that he wasn’t wearing his usual purple shirt and blue jacket. He had on a loose black shirt that fell from his shoulders in folds and shimmered slightly. “Is that silk?” She asked, pointing at the piece of clothing.

The prince quickly turned red. “Yeah. My other shirts are kind of, uh, irritating.” Rayla’s eyes went as big as plates and she quickly pulled them back into the empty throne room, slamming the door behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this marks the end of the setup chapters and the beginning of the story proper. And yes, the title is from Hamilton.


	4. Maybe, But There's No Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Rayla drops the bomb of possibility and the boys somehow deal.

The brothers just stood there in mild shock as she frantically looked around. “Is there a way to bolt these shut?”

“Why,” Callum worried. “What’s wrong?”

“We need,” she commanded, “total secrecy before I tell you that. Now help me.” They boys, now both substantially more worried, quickly showed her the bolts hidden in the design of the doors and locked themselves inside. After the mighty THUD, Rayla asked, “Is there any way they can hear us through the doors?”

Ezran shook his head. “I tried to eavesdrop on Dad once, but I couldn’t hear a thing with those doors all the way shut.”

“And the windows? Walls?”

“Everything’s secure. Rayla, what is it?” A thought struck him and Callum’s next words came out with a squeak. “Am I dying? Is this some weird disease I caught in Xadia? Am I going to start turning into a tree elf for real?”

That paused Rayla’s panic and she looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. “What? That’s crazy. Humans don’t turn into elves. And you’re not dying, it’s actually the opposite.” The silence hung between them until suddenly, Rayla’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “Um, do you remember that talk we had the day we left the Silver Grove?”

“Do you mean the one about you being a ghost or the one about…” Callum went bright red.

Rayla nodded, her face turning even pinker. “Yeah, that one. It, uh,…” she played with her hair and looked at him with a slightly pleading expression, “might be truer than I thought.” Callum sat down hard on the floor, eyes wide and slightly glazed over.

Ezran looked between the two, one blushing furiously and trying to hide behind her hair, the other looking one step from fainting. “What are you too talking about, what’s wrong with Callum?” 

“Well, I don’t know for sure,” she finally mumbled. “I only know one other person this has happened to, but some of the symptoms match and I can’t think of anything else it could be.” Then she tucked her hair back behind her ears, stood straight, and looked Ezran right in the face. “I think Callum’s pregnant.”

His first reaction was to laugh. “Okay, good acting guys. When did you plan this one?” They didn’t laugh with him, or even smile. Rayla just kept staring at him. “Come on, Callum’s a guy. Yeah, he’s going through something right now, but we’ll find the real answer eventually.”

“Ez,” said a quiet voice from behind him. He turned around and saw that Callum had moved out of his shocked stupor and was standing with his head in one hand. “She’s not joking.” Still not looking at his brother, he walked to the doors and unlocked them. “I’m going for a walk, I need some time to think.” The doors swung shut behind him.

Rayla watched him go, then turned back to Ezran and almost flinched. The look on his face would have made Sol Regen run for the hills. “Explain,” he commanded.

Outside on the battlements, Callum pressed a hand to his middle and looked out over the forest, trying to remember that conversation two and a half months ago. Rayla had said mages who used Primal magic sometimes ended up like this, but the knowledge had been squirreled away in his head. They’d still been basically on the run, so there hadn’t been a lot of time to think about it before they reached the Storm Spire, and then the battle and everything else had happened. Okay, he probably could have tried to learn more from some of the delegates, but how would he have even brought up something like that? “Hey, happy to meet you. By the way, are any of you pregnant mages,” he said to the empty sky. Then he snorted to himself. Yeah, that would have gone over real well. But if he looked at his symptoms objectively…

King Harrow used to joke about what Sarai’s pregnancy with Ezran had been like. “She hated that she couldn’t train with the troops,” he had once said, “but no one wanted to risk her fainting or getting dizzy during a spar.” He grinned at a younger Ezran then, ruffling the mass of hair. “You really wore her out in the beginning.”

If I was a girl, I might actually believe this was real, he thought to himself as he laid both hands on the edge of the battlement wall. But I’m not. It could still be something else. It had to be, right? He was a guy to start with, which should make this impossible, but okay, he’d seem magic do some pretty strange things. Second, he’d never even dated someone, let alone done…that. The thought made him blush to the tips of his ears and he shook his head to remove the images that popped up. Not being a virgin kind of came before being pregnant. Thirdly, he was only fifteen! He’d been practicing magic for less than a year. Rayla had said it took years for this to happen, and that was to elves who’d had magic since they were born. 

But what was he going to do, if it was? He didn’t know anything about babies or kids in general. The only kids he knew growing up were Ezran, Claudia and Soren. Two of those people were older than him, and Ezran looked after Callum almost as much as Callum looked after Ezran. He would barely be sixteen by the time the baby showed up. That thought made his head spin and he quickly sat down.

“Callum!” Feet rushed toward him and soon Ezran was kneeling next to him. “Are you okay?”

He smiled at his younger brother, but didn’t think it looked very encouraging if Ezran’s concerned frown was anything to go by. “Not really. What did Rayla tell you?”

“Everything, I think.” The young king sat down next to his brother and they both leaned back against the wall. “About her guardian Ethari, mostly. I think he’s the reason she knows anything about this.” Then he smirked. “Though, I did get her to tell me about that conversation you too had.”

Callum went slightly red and coughed into his fist. “Oh yeah, very funny, until it turns out it might be true.” The silence returned. Ezran ran a finger over the stones underneath his leg and looked up at his brother. He wasn’t as pale as he had been when he fell, but he still didn’t look too good. The faint smudges under his eyes were more pronounced now and his posture slumped against the wall. “Hey, Ez?” The king looked away, hoping his brother hadn’t caught him staring. “You know that trip we were talking about, back to Xadia? I think I’ll take a detour to the Silvergrove. I need to talk to Rayla’s not-dad about this. Maybe he’ll be able to tell if I’m…” The silence stretched. “And I can start learning about the Moon Arcanum too. Multiple arcanums might be what we need to get through to the elves.”

Ezran nodded, then reached out and hugged his brother. “You better send me letters, even if they have to be magic arrowed to me.” 

“I promise.” And the two walked along the wall and back into the castle proper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I know last chapter ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. I've had to rewrite this a few times as Callum's arc changed.


	5. Lunch with a Side of Plans

Opeli and Rayla both waited for them at the foot of the stairs. “I noticed you were not at lunch, my king,” the councilor explained. “Young Rayla told me I might find you and the prince here, so I arranged for something to be brought to you.” A servant behind her offered a large tray only one third full of jelly tarts. When Callum reached to take it, Rayla glared at him and Ezran stepped forward. Rolling his eyes, Callum ignored them both, taking the tray and walking to a spot under some trees near the training ground where he sat the tray on a bench and sat down next to it. Opeli looked from the prince, to her king, to their elf friend and said “Is everything alright.”

“Everything’s fine,” Rayla said with a touch of testiness. “He’s just being stubborn.” 

The advisor gave the elf a warning looked and chastised, “I’m sure the young prince has reasons for his actions besides mere stubbornness.” Opeli bowed. “My king,” she said in lieu of a goodbye and headed back into the castle.

The both watched her go before walking towards Callum’s picnic spot. “So how long will you be here,” Ezran asked. “After the last few weeks, we could both use a friendly face.”

“Why, are the delegates giving you trouble?”

The young king shrugged. “Not me, so much. It’s mostly Callum they have a problem with. I don’t think they know what to do with him.” They slowed to a stop and Rayla looked at her friend. “He’s the first human who’s their equal, and that scares some of them. If one can do it, why not all of us?”

Rayla scoffed. “Just because you all can learn magic doesn’t mean you all will. Most elves don’t bother with magic outside the things we can already do. I mean, all Moonshadow elves can turn invisible, but that’s just something we can do. We don’t have to study it or anything. Mages, they devote their lives to magic.”

“Yeah, I know. I live with one.” They both laughed at that.

The noise drew Callum’s attention and he eyed them from his place on the ground. Mother hens, both of them. What, just because he got a little dizzy sometimes he was suddenly a delicate maiden? Excuse you, I have been through a war, he thought to himself and viciously bit off another hunk of the bread loaf in his hand. “What’re you angry at that bread for,” Rayla teased as the two sat down next to Callum. “It can’t be harder than the stuff we found at the Banther Lodge.”

That pulled a smile out of him and he gestured to the platter. “Why don’t you find out for yourself.” Then his former irritation returned. “I’m sure a big, strong elf like you needs more bread than me. I apparently can’t even carry my own lunch anymore.”

Ezran winced under the glare his brother had skewered them both with. Yeah, maybe that had been a bit much. Rayla wasn’t backing down, though. “Ezran said you’ve have fainting spells. That’s not a good sign, Callum.”

“Oh, because you’re suddenly an expert,” the prince shot back. “I get tired sometimes, so according to you, I must be pregnant, when there’s probably fifty other, more reasonable things it could be. And how many pregnant guys have you met again? One? And you were only around him for a couple weeks. I’m sure you know everything.” He took another vicious bite and glared again, though to Ezran’s relief it was only aimed at Rayla this time. 

Haughtily, the elf turned her face away from the older of the brothers and scoffed. “Then I suppose you don’t want to know how he’s doing now or what he told me about the past four months he’s been with child.” She took an enormous bite and returned to her delicate air.

Callum scoffed. “I don’t need to. I’ll just ask him on the way to Ibis and the Dragon Queen. Besides, that’s not what’s going on.” His hand with the last of the bread lowered, as did his eyes. “It can’t be.”

Rayla looked at his hunched in posture and Ezran’s hands, slightly reached out towards his brother. “Right,” she decided. She grabbed some of the fruit, threw it in the air, and caught it. “So when do we leave?”

“Leave?” Callum asked.

“But you just got here!” Ezran moaned. “You can’t leave already.”

A smirk developed on her face. This was far more familiar. “What, scared to face the big bad elves without me?”

Brown eyes rolled. “We were doing fine on our own,” The young king answered. “Still,” he wondered, his eyes shifting from Rayla towards his brother.

“How about this, Ezran?” Callum smiled and pointed at himself first, then Rayla. “Rayla and I ride to Xadia through The Warpath and head straight for Silvergrove. There, we meet up with Ethari and ask if he would consider coming back to the castle with us.” Rayla looked at him with surprise. She’d thought Callum would stay with Ethari, not the other way around. “That way, I can start learning the Moon Arcanum. Rayla has her not-dad-“  
`  
“He’s my guardian!”

“Around,” Callum continued as if she hadn’t spoken “and I’m still here to help with council sessions. Sound good?”

Ezran cocked his head to one side, contemplating the idea. “But what about Ibis? Didn’t you want to meet up with him? He’s the best Sky mage we know.”

“Eh,” Callum shrugged. “I could still end up doing that if Rayla’s not-dad doesn’t want to come. Then she could come back here to help out with the council. But I can always just learn from books. There’s plenty in the library thanks to Viren.” They all scowl at the memory of the archmage traitor, but then their conversation turned to lighter topics and the three finished their lunch with laughter and many a shared grin.  
..............-.


	6. Coins Clanking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here there's a bit of romance and our first glimpse at Runaan.

After lunch was finished, the three went their separate ways. Callum went to hunt down the various Elven ambassadors to say, very diplomatically, that they should go home until the brothers had at least some idea of what Callum needed to accomplish for them to take him seriously as a mage. Ezran had messages to send via Crow Lord, saying pretty much the same thing to the other human leaders, though his read more along the lines of “We’re trying to solve the problem of elf stubbornness, please be patient with us and don’t declare war because they’re being cryptic.” They promised to meet up for dinner once their various messages had been delivered.

Rayla also had someone to see and a message to pass on.

With a heavy heart, she walked to a small room that was really more of an antechamber to the throne room. Here, Ezran kept the coins that held the Moonshadow elves Viren had imprisoned. It had been a bittersweet day when Rayla saw the results of what had befallen her parents, especially since the spell had no known reversal and the traitor wasn’t exactly around for their resident mage to interrogate. Still, they could react to outside stimuli, so Callum had slowly been teaching them sign language with Gren’s help since he was busy more often than not. Rayla had learned as well, and made sure to visit them every time she was in the castle. At least the coin magic seemed to interfere with the ghosting spell, so she could actually see them.

“Hi Mom, Dad,” she greeted the two elves displayed right next to each other. 

The couple waved from their coins, smiles on their faces. 'Back already?' Dad signed. 'Did they remove the spell?'

“Yep!” she chirped happily as she sat in the chair provided, in case of extended conversation with the trapped elves or a lesson. The small tables displaying the coins were at eye level once you sat and the stands could be moved up and down. “Ethari managed to convince everyone, along with a message from the Dragon Queen. I’m not a ghost anymore.” They both smiled and signed how happy they were. “Of course, I’ll work on getting you un-ghosted too once you’re out of those coins,” she promised. 

Her mother shook her head. 'Concentrate on your own life,' she chastised. 'Don’t worry about us.' Rayla huffed. They said something to that end every time she spoke with them. We’ve accepted this, we’ll be fine, we’re just glad to see you…it was all they ever said. They deserved so much better than this. 'You should go talk to Runaan,' her father signed. 'He’s been worried.'

The elf nodded and turned the chair. Runaan at least was determined to get out of his imprisonment. “Hey Runaan,” she started to get his attention.

Then his hands started flying. 'Rayla! Were you unghosted? How is Ethari? Is the baby alright? How much time until the birth? Did you give him my message?'

Rayla held up her hands. “Slow down, I can hardly understand. Yes, I was unghosted. Ethari and the babies are both fine. They have a-“

But rapid hand movements cut her off. 'Babies?!' Then the trained assassin devolved into flailing and clutching his horns, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Oh yeah, they found out he’s having twins. He seemed really surprised when the healer told him.” It was quite funny, actually. He’d immediately started panicking and trying to get back to his workshop, babbling about needing another crib. “Can I continue?” she asked with a raised brow.

Behind her back, her father signed, 'Now that’s some attitude I’m glad we missed,' to his wife. She threw her head back and laughed obviously enough for him to see and join in.

After Runaan sheepishly motioned for Rayla to go on, she said, “There’s five months until the births, and yes, I gave him your message.” She reached out and touched the coin. “He said to tell you to pick two boy names and two girl names, that his love is still with you, and that he really misses you. Actually,” she thought out loud, sitting up straighter, “he might be coming here soon. Callum needs some help with magic and stuff, so we’re leaving for the Silver Grove tomorrow to talk to him and to try and get him to come back with us.” 

Watching her dignified assassination leader do the equivalent of a happy dance in his coin made Rayla’s heart swell. Once Runaan finished celebrating, he started signing again. 'Will he be alright to make the journey?'

She scoffed. “Ethari still forges swords regularly. He’ll be fine.”

'He’s doing WHAT? He shouldn’t even be near the forge, what if he inhales too much smoke or burns himself?' And Runaan was back to gripping his horns.

But Rayla just rolled her eyes. “Ethari’s not some apprentice smith, he’s not going to hurt himself. And he’s being super careful.” Runaan was completely still, listening avidly, so she continued. “He doesn’t go on any hunts or journeys by himself, he’s very careful with what he eats, and he hasn’t touched anything stronger than Moonberry juice in months. He’ll be fine.” Then under her breath, she muttered, “Callum could learn a thing or two from him.”

Apparently, she hadn’t been as quiet as she thought. 'What’s wrong with Callum,' Runaan signed. Rayla was tempted to roll her eyes and not answer, but her guardian did look worried.

“He’s just not taking very good care of himself lately. He could be in a delicate state, and he’s not taking the proper precautions.”

The elf started to sign again, but halted and pointed behind her. She turned in her chair and saw her mother waving to catch her attention. 'Is he sick?' The woman asked with her fingers. 

The girl tucked her braid back behind her ear. “We don’t know. Something’s going on, and I think I know what it is, but we have to go see Ethari for sure. That’s all I can say about it.” She wasn’t about to out her friend for something that might turn out to be incorrect.

Her parents looked at each other, back at her, and signed 'when are you leaving?'

“Tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I did not give Ethari twins on a whim. I have two reasons, one of which will be explained later. The second was the timing. The first time the crew met Ethari, he was only two months along which, if he only has one baby, wouldn't show. BUT, if he has twins, there's already a small bump by that time, enough for Callum to get curious about.  
> On another note, I think getting trapped in a coin negates ghosting. In the series, Runaan obviously knows what's in the coin when Viren shows them to him as a threat. Once he gets trapped in the coin, Runaan was still able to move. That's where the idea for sign language conversations with those trapped came from.


	7. On Our Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Come on, I need at least one traveling chapter.

Even from a distance, The Warpath was a frightening sight. None of their current traveling party, consisting of Marcos , Rayla, and Callum, had been there when Viren had forged it, but they had all heard the stories. Just thinking about the amount of power it must have taken to split the lava flow and harden it almost instantly made Callum shiver. He didn’t want to know what Viren had used for such a spell, or what they would face when the traitor resurfaced. Well, when he does, we’ll be ready, he reassured himself. “Come on, we’ll be in Xadia before nightfall,” was what he said out loud. Then he galloped down to the newest way across the fiery border.

Rayla’s shoulders crept up to her ears in discomfort as they rode through the hardened walls on either side with the redirected flow of hot rock above their heads, a detail that had been added later by the Sunfire elves in a rare gesture of goodwill. The glow from the molten lava cast their blackened surroundings in a blood-colored red, and the hot air made her throat parched. “This is creeping me out. It’s not natural.”

Callum rolled his eyes. “It’s the only way between Xadia and Katolis right now. Once we build a new path, naturally,” he emphasized, making her scowl at him, “we can break this one. Or would you rather try and get past Mister Angry Fire Dragon again?” She looked away, her scowl deepening.

It was almost a marvel, really, how much ground they’d been able to cover in just three days. The first time, this journey had taken Callum and Rayla two weeks, but they had been on foot and trying to evade pursuers and other people. With horses and no hostiles to worry about, the two friends and their escort had made great time. They stopped in a forest clearing close to dusk to rest for the night. Rayla went into the woods to look for firewood and anything edible while Callum and Marcos set up camp. As he and the prince threaded poles into their tent, Marcos eyed the royal. King Ezran hadn’t said much when he assigned the soldier to look after his brother and elven friend, and he got the feeling there were things afoot that no one had told him. “So where exactly are we headed?” he prodded.

With a kick to the tent post to firmly plant it in the ground, Callum replied, “The Silver Grove. It’s where most of the Moonshadow Elves live, when they’re not assassinating people or guarding dragons.”

They threw the tarp over the top of the poles and the two started tying it in place. “Is that where Miss Rayla lives,” Marcos asked.

“Yep,” came a reply from the other side of the canvas cover. 

When no more was forthcoming, Marcos probed, “And where are we headed after that?”

“It depends on what happens once we get there. Are you done on your side yet?” Well, Marcos knew how to take a hint. He silently finished the last of his ties and walked over to the prince’s side of the tent. The prince was sitting on the ground, legs splayed out and propped up on his elbows. An adoraburr was attached to his elbow, making the soldier smile. “We should go get some water,” Callum suggested, quickly getting to his feet, pulling off the various fuzzballs attached to him, and hoisting his canteen up to his shoulder. “It’s almost time for dinner.” And he walked off towards the sound of running water with a burr still stuck to the back of his jacket, leaving Marcos to wonder why he’d been on the ground. 

Once he was out of sight of the camp, Callum propped himself against a tree until the dizziness faded. His symptoms were getting worse, and trying to hide them from Marcos and Rayla was proving difficult. And my one comfortable shirt wouldn’t survive this trip, he groused, rubbing at his tender chest. At least he hadn’t developed any new symptoms and he hadn’t fainted again. “Are you alright?” And there she is, he thought, as Rayla jumped over some bushes and dropper her firewood near his feet. Does she have Callum-is-in-trouble sense or something? 

“I’m fine,” he said as he took his hand off the tree trunk and started walking toward the sound of water again. “You should take that firewood back to camp.” 

She started gathering the wood back into her arms. “Where are you going?”

“The river. We need fresh water,” he answered, raising the canteen by its leather strap.

She eyed it mistrustfully, looked at him, and then in the direction of the sound. “Do you need me to come along?”

He settled the strap firmly on his shoulder and turned away. “I can do it on my own. Worry about your own job, because that kindling’s looking pretty sorry.” She looked down at the substantial pile of sticks in her arms and looked back up to give him a biting retort, only to find he’d already gone. Startled, she looked around the clearing. Callum held his breath as he listened to her shuffling footsteps from behind a thick trunk and breathed a sigh of relief when her steps headed back towards the camp. He could do a simple chore on his own, without hovering elves, thank you very much.

The splashing noises turned out to be from a small, clear brook. He dipped his cupped hands in and brought them to his lips, tilting the water into his mouth. It tasted cleaner, more refreshing than the water in their canteens. “Probably because it hasn’t been sitting in leather all day,” he said to no one in particular. But this was Xadia, after all, home of magic dirt. And once they talked to Ethari tomorrow, he could study it in more detail. “This isn’t really happening, right?” he said to his reflection. “I mean, what are the chances?” His hand pressed against his midsection. It didn’t feel any different. There was nothing moving and the area was flat with the same muscle definition as usual. He knew, he’d checked. Rayla was probably just mistaken or pulling a giant prank on him. Either way, he would find out tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to gauge how long it took Viren's army to get to Xadia, and I don't think it took all that long. So here's my travel chapter. It was a toss-up between Soren, Marcos, and Corvus for who would accompany them, but I need Soren for shock value later and I think Corvus would be staying close to Ezran. So, Marcos it was. The Warpath is the passage Viren made into Xadia with a few additions to keep it intact.  
> I'm having a lot of trouble with the next chapter. I don't know how to do heartfelt conversations without it turning to tell-not-show!


	8. Back in the Silver Grove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing much happens in this one. I'm just avoiding that heartfelt conversation that is driving me up the wall because I can't make it sound natural no matter what I do!

The next morning, the three rode up to the massive tree that held the spell and dismounted. Marcos collected the reins of all three mounts and asked, “Should I start making camp?” He wasn’t too keen on the idea of going into an elvish village. They might not be enemies right now, but old habits die hard. 

The two friends exchanged looks. “It’s fine,” Rayla acquiesced. “I can only bring one person with me anyway. Although, you might want to do it a bit further from the front door.” She smirked as the soldier blanched and quickly started looking for a different clearing. 

“Alright, let’s get going,” Callum stated as he hoisted himself up into the branches, searching for the particular tree trunk they’d used last time. Rayla reached out a hand to help him up, but he was already straddling a branch and reaching for the next one. He really needs to be more careful, Rayla growled inwardly as she followed him up into the trees. With a look down to make sure she was following, the prince continued further up and further in. The trees were just as huge as he remembered, big enough to be used as roads. At least he’d been able to forgo the elf disguise this time. Those “horns” kept falling off. 

He reached up for a thinner branch higher up. There was a really thick one right above it. If that smaller branch could take his weight for just a second, he could grab the next one and- Suddenly, his mind went fuzzy and he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around his current branch. Oh no, not another one, he lamented as the dizzy spell overtook him. “Callum!” came a shout from below. “Are you alright? I’ll be there in a second, just hold on.” Yeah, like I’m going to let go when my head is spinning, he grumbled to himself as she pulled up on his branch. “Are you alright,” she asked and touched his shoulder.

He breathed in deeply as his head finally settled and sat back up with one hand still on the branch. “I’m fine, let’s just keep going.” He reached for the branch, but Rayla grabbed it first and easily snapped it. He gulped. “You can lead the way this time.”

“Wait,” she said, hunching over a bit so she could look up at him. “I know I haven’t been treating you the same since we found out, but that’s no excuse for you to be acting reckless like this.” He turned his head away, but looked at her again when she placed her hand on top of where his rested. “Even if there’s no baby, you are priceless. So look after yourself better?” 

He looked straight into her eyes and saw her worry for him. Okay, maybe he was overdoing the whole I’m-not-a-delicate-maiden act. “I promise,” he agreed. I guess I can tone it down, but if she starts treating me like glass again, I’m seriously going to wing up and just fly to the key point.

Relaxing out of her hunched posture, her shoulders fell back as Rayla let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, good. Because Ezran told me he’d unleash Opeli on me with a bunch of protocol books if you got hurt on this trip. I think dancing lessons were included.” They both laughed and continued on, with Rayla leading the way through the branches. Finally, they reached the tree trunk they were looking for. “Do you remember the steps from last time?”

He grimaced. “Nope, not at all.” 

She sighed and put him into the starting position again. “When we get in,” she instructed as she twirled and Callum followed, “I’m probably going to get mobbed, so you should just go straight through to Ethari’s workshop. Do you remember where it is?”

“Yeah,” he answered as they put their hands together in the middle of the circle, “But are you sure he’ll be there? And what do you mean, mobbed?”

“Trust me,” she scoffed as they watched the illusion disperse and the village appeared. “If he’s not with the healer, he’s in his workshop. And that’s what I meant,” she explained, pointing at a child who’d just spotted them.

With a shriek of delight, the boy screamed “Rayla’s back!” and a horde of elven kids converged on the two friends. 

“Are you back for good?”

“How many humans did you see this time?”

“Did you go to the castle?”

“Did you see the Speaker King?”

The questions came tumbling over each other and almost incomprehensible. Callum mouthed Speaker King? over the kid’s heads.

Ezran, Rayla answered in the same fashion. Then she jerked her head towards one of the bigger trees with a door built into the side about thirty feet up. The prince nodded and peeled off from the group, headed towards the base of the stairs. When he was about halfway up, he looked back and saw Rayla still surrounded by the gaggle of kids. She smiled and he could tell from the sound of chatter that she was still answering questions. Such a stark contrast to the last time he’d been here with her made something within him warm. 

But as he kept climbing, the warmth turned to knots. Would Ethari remember him? People obviously knew of Ezran, if the nickname was anything to go by, but did anyone here remember that he was a good guy? Was he about to walk into an attack? Should he have worn an elf disguise? His thoughts were jolted back to the present as he went to take another step up only for his foot to land on a flat surface. He was here.

With a deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited. A faint “coming!” came from inside. He took a step back from the door as it was opened from the inside. And there was Ethari, with a faint smile on his face that grew as he said “Callum, right? I didn’t expect to see you again. Do you want to come in?” Ethari turned to the side so he wasn’t blocking the door anymore and Callum got his first good look at the curve that he now knew housed two children. 

It was a lot more pronounced this time than it had been two months ago, a definite mound on the elf’s body. Then he realized he was staring and quickly snapped his eyes up to the elf’s face. “Sure, yeah.” He stepped through the door frame and stated, “I actually have some questions for you.”

“About what,” the elf inquired, shutting the door.

“Uh,” Callum said as he reached up and scratched the back of his head. How to bring this up… he gestured to the elf’s expanding middle. “That.”


	9. Here's How It Happened

Ethari’s eyebrows went up into his bangs, but he smiled. “They’re fine, don’t worry. Though, I expected Rayla to be the one asking, not you.”

  
“Oh, um, not about them specifically.” The prince flailed his arms in front of him, looking off to the side. “I meant, like, how it happens and stuff. I just kinda want to know about magic in general, and Rayla told me this happened because of magic, and humans are going to start learning magic, so I just…” He slouched and let his arms fall, looking at the floor. “I thought we should probably know about this.”

  
He looked up at the elf with his posture still slouched and Ethari quickly looked aside, running one hand over his bump and fiddling with something at his belt with the other. “I’m not really sure I’m the best person to talk to. I mean, I just tinker with magic, really. Maybe you should-“

  
“Please.” The single word cut the elf off mid-sentence and he looked back at the boy standing almost in his doorway. He’d straightened and one hand was slightly extended towards the elf, palm up in a pleading motion.

  
Well, how could he refuse such a yearning for more knowledge? “I suppose I can answer at least some of your questions, though someone a bit more skilled would probably know more.” He gestured to the bench by the worktable. “Shall we?” The prince nodded eagerly and crossed the room to the bench where he plonked himself down and looked at Ethari expectantly. The smith sat next to him on an angle. “Well, what do you want to know?”

  
For a few seconds, the boy said nothing, gaze turning inward as he turned the question over in his head. “Can you just start at the beginning? Like, why is it only mages that this happens too?”  
Well, that was a simple enough thing to answer. “Well, I should probably start by telling you that magic, specifically the six primal sources, can think for themselves somewhat.” Callum’s eyes widened to dinner plates and Ethari laughed. “I know, it’s strange. We don’t know a whole lot about them, but there are a few things they’ve revealed to us. For instance, we know they can tell the difference between, say, a regular person using their inherent magical powers, and someone going beyond that.”

  
“What do you mean?” The prince leaned towards the elf.

  
Ethari wracked his brain for an analogy that would make sense to a human. His eyes landed on the simple embroidery at the top of the prince’s tunic. “Let’s say that magic is like sewing.” He picked at the side of his tunic and found the seam. “Elves doing instinctual magic, like Rayla turning invisible, are like regular sewing. Everyone can do it, but it’s nothing special, and you can’t see it unless you’re looking for it.” Callum nodded and tensed slightly when Ethari pointed at his collar. “Elves doing magic on purpose are like embroidery.”

  
The prince looked at his collar again and asked, “It takes more skill and you can see it easier?”

  
He smiled at the youth. “Exactly. Primal sources can feel it more keenly when mages use their power, and they can keep watch over them. That’s different for each source.” The boy nodded and opened his mouth to ask a question but Ethari cut him off. “I only know about the Moon Arcanum, though. You’d have better luck asking your Skywing friend about the other sources.” He drooped on the bench, which made the elf smile.

  
He perked up at the expression, his back straightening as he asked, “So what’s the Moon Arcanum like?”

  
To Callum’s surprise, a flush rose on the elf’s face. “She’s a lot like an overbearing mother, actually. The moon is traditionally seen as feminine, and the Arcanum is one of the reasons for that. Mages are like her…special children, I suppose.” He rubbed the back of his neck and hunched over slightly, making his bump less noticeable and putting his eyes on the same level as Callum’s. Still a bit bashful, he glanced to the side at the prince. “When I met her in my dream, I felt like I was sixteen years old again.”

  
“Dream? What do you mean by that?”

  
Ethari uncurled from his hunched position and grinned a tad. Callum was straddling the bench now with his hands placed firmly on the wood in front of him. Leaning forward eagerly, he was the picture of an attentive pupil. “That’s another part of this process.” He turned and looked at the prince again, though he didn’t straddle the bench. Getting his leg over the top with his belly in the way would have been a bit too awkward. “The night that the child is given to a mage, they have a dream where their Arcanum speaks to them. The dreams are all different depending on the mage and the Arcanum involved.”

  
“What was yours like?” Even as he asked the question, an old memory tickled the back of Callum’s mind. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll like it.’

  
“That’s not something I’ll ever forget,” Ethari stated.

* * *

Slowly, Ethari ran the sand paper over the last curve and rocked back on his heels to survey his work. The cradle was a thing of beauty, with beautiful light brown wood carved into gentle curves. Just big enough for a firm bed mat and a tiny baby, and he stuck his hand in to run a finger along the bottom of the inside. Sliding along the smooth surface, his skin detected no more bumps or rough patches to be sanded down. His other palm gently ran along the top, lingering on the garland of flowers he’d carved in just below the rim at the mother’s request. It was the couple’s first child, after all. The cradle would hopefully see many more children after this first bundle of joy, so it was worth it to put a little more care and embellishment into the simple piece of furniture. Goodness knows he had had the time, with Runaan and Rayla already gone on their mission.

  
He picked up the cradle from the middle of his workshop and was about to walk over to the entrance to place it near the other finished items when a voice spoke up from the door. “Well, at least you already know how to build one.” He turned around to welcome the newcomer. She was an older woman, hair white as was typical of the Moonshadow elves and face creased with worry lines.

  
With his smile broadening and head dipping with respect, Ethari gestured towards the small piece of furniture. “Would you like to take a closer look?”

  
To his mild surprise she rolled her eyes and looked at him rather sternly. “Foolish boy. I am not the one you should be making a cradle for.” She took a step forward, suddenly much closer to him than before. Before he could take a step away, she prodded at his stomach with a single finger. “They will need your expertise far sooner than I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so begins my world-building for this story! I love Mpreg but refuse to write detailed slash, so I have to come up with something semi-outrageous. This time, the world-building was almost more fun than the actual pregnancies!


	10. So It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethari suspects this isn't purely academic anymore, and Callum finally gets his answer.

“That was it?” Callum asked. 

Ethari rubbed at the base of his neck. “Pretty much. The next morning, I went to the healers after Runaan and Rayla left for training and asked them to check. They asked when I’d had the dream and after I told them it was last night, they said to come back in a week.”

Callum moved his leg back across the bench so he was no longer straddling it. With his elbow propped up on his knee and chin in his hand, he looked up at the elf again. “Why did you have to wait a week to find out?” Wouldn’t magic have been able to tell right away, like it would-

Do for him?

The prince swallowed. He didn’t often remember dreams with much clarity, but the one he’d had the night after the climactic battle was burned into his brain. Sure, it wasn’t an old woman, but he had the Sky Arcanum, his dream was bound to be different. Still, did that mean this was real?

Oblivious to the tumultuous thoughts next to him, the craftsman answered the question. “Usually they wouldn’t make a mage wait to be checked out, but you have to understand. The two people I love were about to leave on a very dangerous mission. It was possible that my mind just made up the dream, instead of it coming from the Moon Arcanum. So they told me to wait a week and come back if I had any of the other usual signs.”

At that, Callum straightened up again. “What other signs?”

That tone made Ethari give Callum a deeper look. The curiosity was gone, with the monotone, quickly spoken words raising a suspicion in the back of the elf’s mind. “During the week after the dream, a womb forms in the mage’s body and it creates some pretty severe cramps. You might also start to feel dizzy or more tired.” Oh yes, Ethari thought. He’s gone far too pale for this to be purely academic. 

Gulp. “And what are some of the other ones?”

The elf studied Callum as he answered. “Those are the standard ones that every mage experiences. We think the increased blood flow to a new organ, the womb, means there’s less for the rest of the body and that’s why every mage experiences the dizziness and fatigue. For some, it gets to a point where they faint or become unsteady.” The boy’s hands tightened on the hem of his tunic. “I have heard,” Ethari continued that some mages get pain in their legs in the latter months, or a tenderness in the chest .” His mind was racing a mile a minute. If he was correct, it would mean tremendous things for the magical community, all of Xadia. For a human to experience magic in such an intimate way…

“Why do some mages get tender chests?” The prince raised his hand halfway to his torso, but forced it back into his lap. He looked forward, but his eyes flicked quickly to Ethari’s face. Then he was facing forwards again with his hands clenched in his lap.

There was silence, and then, “Is there another reason you’re asking me about this, Callum?”

The prince looked at the elf who smiled gently at him, though there was concern there too and no little amount of hope and, strangely awe. He wasn’t going to get a better opening than that. “To be honest, I mostly came to talk to you because Ez seemed certain something was up with me and when Rayla heard what symptoms I had, she brought this possibility up. I wasn’t convinced it was, well, this, but-“

He took another deep breath. “I’ve been having dizzy spells the past few weeks, and my chest is really sensitive.” He blushed and looked away, so he missed how Ethari’s hand started to extend towards him. “On top of that, I kinda had one of those dreams you mentioned, where your Arcanum talks to you. I didn’t really think that hard about it when I woke up, but now-“

A hand on his shoulder halted his words and he looked up into two kind eyes. “You think magic has given you a child.” The boy nodded. Ethari’s heart leapt in his chest. This was amazing! This meant so much for all the races! If a human like Callum could learn magic to the point that an Arcanum was giving him this, then humans could all learn primal magic. Elves and humans would be on equal footing! There would be no need for Dark Magic or separate countries or the war or…

Ethari looked deeper into the young man’s eyes and shoved all his excited thoughts to the back of his head. The uncertainty in the prince’s face needed something besides the bigger picture. “There is a spell I can use that will let us know for sure, but before I cast it, I want to tell you something.” Ethari got off the bench and knelt in front of his ward’s friend. “I know you don’t feel ready,” he started, and moved his hand off Callum’s shoulder so he could take the prince’s hands in his. “You’re much younger than anyone I know who’s gone through this, and I know quite a few, seeing as they all suddenly wanted to talk to me when it was announced that I’m having twins.” His smile turned humorous and Callum’s lips quirked up for a moment before his expression reverted to worry again. “But even though it foreshadows a loss for Moonshadow mages, and some rejected the child at the beginning because of that, not a single one of them regretted it when the babe was finally born.”

Finally, the prince looked at him again with a spark of hope rekindled. “Every single mage who has gone through this loves the child they were given, and would not trade them for anything. Even if they were scared of what would happen, it always worked out in the end.” He gently squeezed the hands still grasped in his own. “Always. Without exception.” He stood up from his kneeling position then, using a hand on the bench to push himself up. Callum followed without any trouble. “Now, are you ready for the spell?”

` Nodding, the prince summoned a tremulous but hopeful smile. “I’m ready.” Softly, the elf muttered something in the elven language and touched the young man’s middle.

A rapid thumping sound filled the room, like a gentle drum but faster than any beat he’d ever heard. 

Slightly stunned, Callum’s mouth dropped open and his hands went slack as he listened. He had a feeling he knew what he was hearing, but he asked anyway. “What is that?”

A choked sound answered his question and he stared at the craftsman. The older elf had a hand over his mouth and his eyes were shiny, even though Callum could see smile lines crinkling at the corners of his eyes. “That,” Ethari answered, lowering his hand and showing the prince his awed smile as they both listened to the rapid thumping, “is your baby’s heartbeat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! We finally have the reveal! For me, hearing my daughter's heartbeat for the first time was one of the most precious experiences I have had as her mother so far. I wanted Callum to have that moment. This spell is also how Ethari found out he was having twins. Two heartbeats in kinda hard to miss.  
> Also, I wrote the reassurance part of this chapter a really long time ago. It was a piece of this conversation that really needed to happen.  
> The title is a Lord of the Rings quote.


	11. Someone needs to FREAK OUT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Callum has lots of questions, Ralya is good for handling princes, and someone is causing mischief already.

“And then, just as the serpent was about to get me and Bait in the water, Prince Callum charged his hand with lightening and struck the water with it!” The children around Rayla gasped and leaned forward even further. “It electrocuted the beast! It fell back into the water with a mighty splash and the wave carried Bait and me back to the shore.” She carefully left out the part about her drastically different hairstyle.

There was a cough from behind the children and they collectively turned their heads. “Don’t you all have chores to do,” Ethari nudged gently. The children moaned their protests but eventually ran off to their individual homes, leaving the older elf alone with Rayla. With a smile, she got up from her seat on a rock and hugged her guardian. “Welcome back, Rayla. We’ve missed you.”

She smiled into his warmth. “I missed you too.” Still, smiling, she relaxed her grip and looked around the clearing. “Where’s Callum?”

Nervously, the craftsman’s fingers rubbed at his middle. “He’s still up in the workshop. He has a lot to think about.”

Rayla’s attitude quickly took a turn into worried territory. “Is he alright?”

“He’s fine.” Then the nervous gestures stopped and Ethari grinned. “He’s just pregnant.”

Callum actually wouldn’t have described himself as ‘fine’ right then. Panicking was the word he’d have used. 

He paced around the perimeter of the workshop, his hands gripping the front of his tunic and his mouth muttering a mile a minute. “Okay, this is real. There is actually a person inside me. Like, a real person. I’m responsible for another person. Oh no, they’ve already been there for two months! Have I been doing the right stuff? What is the right stuff? How do I find out about the right stuff? Do I ask a doctor or a-” a jolt ran up his spine. “Oh no. I have to get a midwife. We don’t have one in the castle, just a doctor. Should I ask the doctor? But he’s going to want to know why, and if I tell him, he could tell others and-“ another jolt ran up his spine and he started pacing faster, his hands clenching tighter in his tunic. “People are going to find out. Everyone’s going to know. How would I even explain this? Should I tell people that it’s a mage thing? Would that scare people off from learning? But they should know the risk before they start learning. Then when it happens to them they’ll probably know from the start and can get help. Right, I need help. I was going to ask Ethari if he could come back. Maybe he could be my midwife? But he’s pregnant too, he’ll need one before I do. And I can’t help because I don’t know what to do or anything about this, so it has to be a midwife. Wait, would a human midwife even work for him? For this? It’s a magic thing, not a normal human thing. How does this whole process work? It’s not like we have all the physical things women have for this.”

His eyes widened as a thought hit him and he sat down hard. Luckily the bench was right behind him so he didn’t have far to go. His hands let go of his tunic and transferred to his hair. “How’re they going to come out?” His breathing sped up and he curled in tighter on himself. 

“I don’t know, but panicking’s not going to help, especially because it’s bad for you and them.” His hands relinquished their grip on his hair and Callum looked up at the intruder. Rayla was standing in the doorway, one hand on a cocked hip and a frown on her face. Slowly, his back slumped in defeat and his hands hung down between his knees. 

Sighing, the elf walked over to the bench and sat down beside the prince. “It’s like, it wasn’t really real before,” he started, speaking more slowly. “It was just a crazy idea you had and my brother backed up. But now…” A hand rose up and cupped his abdomen gently. “I know there really is someone in here.”

With a gentle smile, Rayla put a hand on his arched back. “And that someone is going to have all of us. You will too.” That got a small smile out of the prince and he turned his head to look at her. “I know I’m not letting you out of my sight, Mr. I-can-climb-any-tree-I-want.”

He laughed lightly, but his hand stayed where it was. “I don’t think I’ll be climbing trees again any time soon. I’ll just fly, it’ll be safer.”

With a chuckle of her own Rayla nudged his knee good-naturedly and got up. “Well, we should probably go find Ethari. We need to talk him into moving to the castle and you,” she added, pointing a finger at him and almost grazing the tip of his nose, “need to get one of his messenger arrows so you can let Ezran know.” His hands rose towards his hair again but she grabbed his wrists. “You know he’s going to be happy for you, so don’t you start panicking again. You’ve given that wee one enough excitement for one day.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” he acquiesced, putting his hands up in surrender. But even as they walked out of the tree to go hunt down the older elf, Rayla saw a tiny smile on her friend’s lips as one his hands again rested over his middle.

Miles away from the newly aware parent, there stood a small hovel in a forest clearing. The hovel was a crude thing made of bent twigs and whatever leafy fronds could serve as a roof. A girl with mostly white hair exited the surrounding forest and carried her basket into the small structure. She looked around and when she saw no one was inside, sighed. “He’s probably staring at the cocoon again,” Claudia complained. With great care, the girl emptied the berries she’d collected into a small basket and replaced the lid. Then she headed back out onto the plain in search of her father and his weird need to check on the cocoon.


	12. Heads Up, Ezran

_Hey Ez,  
Please tell me the baker hasn’t run out of jam, because I’m going to need a mountain of jelly tarts as soon as I get back. Moonberry juice is fine and everything, but there’s no crunch! I seriously need some pastry. I hope the elves aren’t giving you any trouble, or anyone’s giving you trouble about the elves. Especially that last one, because we’re bringing Ethari back with us. He’s really excited to see his husband the assassin, so I’ve been teaching him some sign language on the way home. I think he’ll still need a translator for a while, but he can at least say hi now. Rayla’s helping.  
So, I guess this is where I tell you that Rayla was right about me._  
Ezran put down the letter and stared at Bait. “Do you think he means that she was right about him needing more time to study magic or…” He abruptly remembered the other thing Rayla had said about Callum and his eyes widened. He held the letter right in front of his face and kept reading.  
_The whole ‘guys getting pregnant’ thing isn’t just an elf thing, it’s a mage thing. So, congrats! You’re going to be an uncle!_  
The letter hit the desk hard as the young king stared at his pet with wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth. Bait’s expression was pretty much the same. Suddenly, he is very glad he chose to read Callum’s letter in his bedroom and not at the breakfast table where the arrow landed. He bent over the letter and smoothed it out before continuing.  
_There’s a lot we’ll need to talk about when I get back to Katolis, like getting a midwife for Ethari and… well…me._  
That made Ezran smile. He could practically feel his brother’s embarrassment radiating from the paper. He turned to his amphibious friend. “How do you think we’re going to explain that? Maybe we can pretend Ethari’s a woman?” He laughed at the idea. As much as it might have worked for the elf, that idea wasn’t going to work for his incoming niece or nephew. He drew in a breath. “I’m going to be an uncle,” he articulated carefully. A wide grin split his face and he kept reading.  
_And also how to tell the rest of the Human kingdom that this is a possibility, especially when I start training new mages once we finally get some more Primal Stones. Any luck with that? Anyway, we should be back in hopefully a week. We’re having to travel a little slower because Ethari can only ride for so many hours in a row and, well, Rayla’s demanding I do the same thing. Not that I’m complaining! If that’s what I need to do, I will, but I still think she’s overreacting a little. I mean, Ethari’s having twins, and he’s a lot farther along than…_  
There was a massive ink smudge.  
_He’s just farther along. So we’ll be back before the month is out.  
See you soon, Ez.  
Callum_  
After he reread the letter a few times to let his brother’s news sink in, Ezran carefully folded it and tucked it away in a drawer. He straightened the other papers on his desk, got up, and walked over to Bait. “Well, we should probably get ready for them,” he said to the toad who moaned back at him. “You’re right. We should talk to Opeli, at least about Ethari.” And so boy and toad went in search of his adviser.  
With some help from one of the servants, Ezran found the dignified woman in the courtyard walking amongst the flowers. “Opeli,” the young king shouted.  
Quickly, she turned to him and bowed slightly. “My king, what do you require?”  
He put Bait down on the ground near a flowerbed and asked, “Can we have one of the long term guest quarters cleaned out and prepared?”  
With another small head bow, she asked, “Of course. Might I inquire as to whom it is for?”  
Cautiously, not wanting to spill any beans before he had a chance to talk things over with Callum, he answered. “Do you remember Callum and Rayla leaving for Xadia a while ago?” She nodded. “They were going to get a friend of ours, Rayla’s guardian. They wanted to ask him to be our ambassador from the elves, and to help teach Callum Moon magic. They actually convinced him to come and they’ll be here before the end of the month. I was hoping we could have a place ready for him before he got here.”  
The noblewoman nodded. It was a good idea, having an elven representative around to help with negotiations. Yes, they had Rayla, but many of the other elves claimed she was biased and other such nonsense. And if this Ethari could also help their only mage currently, so much the better. She smiled at her young charge and king. He was learning so fast. Of course, she didn’t know the real reason they wanted him around, but Ezran wasn’t going to enlighten her about that without talking to his brother first. “Of course, my King. Shall we go select a suite for him?” Ezran nodded eagerly.  
For Opeli, this actually meant sending for the head of the castle staff and leaving him with Ezran to talk over what their Elven guest would need. Caspar, the man in question, was five times more knowledgeable about the guest rooms than anyone else. Caspar immediately bowed to Ezran upon the young king’s arrival and asked, “What is it that you wish, My King?” He explained the problem to the older man once he’d stood straight again. Stroking his beard, he asked, “Are there any particular requirements this guest might have?”  
Ezran touched his own chin. “He doesn’t need anything to grand, but at extra room for his crafting and magic would be nice.” Also, we can easily turn it into a nursery. But he wasn’t about to say that part out loud. “It should be pretty close to the room with the captive elves since he’s married to one of them. Oh, and a window or with a way to get outside close by. Those elves really love their nature.” His mind went back to their return trip from the Spire and the short time they’d stayed in Rayla’s home. “You should see their houses in Xadia.”  
Obviously, this was a difficult combination, as Caspar hadn’t lowered his hand from his facial hair. “Well traditionally, all foreign guests have been housed in the western part of the castle, which is a far ways from the throne room and the room with the captive elves, as you called them. But we should have a few empty rooms closer, for discussion and other purposes. I’ll see what I can find, My King.” The man bowed again and walked away. Behind him, Ezran breathed a bit easier. Well, that was one thing taken care of. Now, he just had to wait for Rayla, the new guy, and…  
Ezran gulped.  
His magically pregnant brother to get back.


	13. Campfire Conversations

“I’m going to get more firewood.” 

Callum looked up from the last bite of his meal. “But we already have enough.” He gestured at the small pile a few feet from the impromptu firepit. This had better not be another attempt by her to mother him and Ethari, who was in fact older than her. Callum both envied Ethari’s patience with the girl’s hovering and flinched every time he heard her, hoping she didn’t turn on him next. They were halfway to their campsite on this side of The Warpath after the day’s travels and Rayla’s mothering

Had

Not

Stopped.

Not for a single moment.

It probably wouldn’t have been as bad if only Ethari was pregnant. The girl seemed to have some measure of respect for her not-father. This showed in the fact that she asked, if incessantly, if he was alright, if he wanted a break, did they need to get more water. Asked being the important distinction here. With Callum, she just threw the water skin at him and glared until he took a drink. On the flipside, since he was just starting out with his…pregnancy, while Ethari was blatantly showing, Rayla’s efforts were more concentrated on him.

Rayla scoffed. “You seriously think that’s enough to get us through the night? No way am I letting it go out, or leaving you two alone to go hunt for more wood.” With a swirl and a scowl, she marched off with her head held high.

Slowly, Ethari got to his feet too, but didn’t follow the girl. Instead he walked over to Marcos and said something in a low voice. The soldier nodded and came back to the fire. “I’ll take the dishes to the stream to clean, Sire, if you’re finished.” With a shrug, Callum handed over his shallow bowl and fished the cooking pot out of the coals. Picking up his own plate, Marcos nodded to the prince and walked into the forest in the direction of the stream.

Then Ethari turned to look at him and Callum abruptly became aware of the fact that he was alone with the elf. He walked around the fire and sat next to the prince on the log their two companions had pulled out of the woods for them. “How are you doing,” he inquired with a smile.

He tried to brush it off with a hand flap. “Oh well, it’s traveling. I’m used to it after the months Ez and I spent out here with Rayla.”

It didn’t work, if the look on the elf’s face was to be believed. “I meant about them.” He ran a hand conspicuously over his protruding bump and glanced meaningfully at Callum’s middle. The prince resisted the urge to settle his hand in the same area. “You only discovered them a few days ago, but you haven’t asked me any more questions.”

The prince’s shoulders drooped and he let his hand settle at his waist. “I don’t know. I mean, there’s so much I don’t know, so much I have to think about and plan for, and…” he paused and looked Ethari in the eye, then away. “I’m the first human this has ever happened to. What do I say to everyone in Katolis?” His shoulders hunched up around his ears. “Life was complicated enough already.”

Ethari blinked. He actually hadn’t thought about that. He had a bad tendency to forget that the boy next to him was a prince as well as a mage and Rayla’s friend. “Well, the way I see it, it’s a good thing for your kingdom.” Callum looked at him again and his shoulders relaxed a fraction. “I’ve heard that the Sky Arcanum is notoriously picky about who it gives children to. I don’t know why, though. You’d be better off asking your Sky Mage friend.” Callum made a metal note to do just that as soon as they got back to the palace, maybe with a request to stay as well. “But it does mean that you’re fully capable of performing magic on all its levels. And if you can do it, other humans can too.”

That finally loosened the young man’s shoulders all the way, so Ethari continued with his speculation. “Your pregnancy is proof that, with enough effort, humans can be just as good at magic as the races from Xadia. I think that’s news that most people would be glad to hear.” Callum smiled at that and Ethari returned the gesture. They sat in silence for a moment, looking up at the stars. “Was there anything else you were worried about?”

Surprisingly, Callum blushed to the tips of his ears and stuttered out, “N-no, not at all! Why would you think that!” He wouldn’t look at Ethari again.

It was too good an opportunity to pass up. “Come on now, what is it,” he gently pestered. “I promise not to tell anyone who doesn’t need to know.”

“No one needs to know!” the boy burst out, still blushing fiercely. “It’s stupid anyway.”

“If it’s stupid,” Ethari continued pestering, “then it should be easy to answer. Come on, out with it.”

With his shoulders bunched up around his ears again, but from embarrassment this time, the boy turned his head just enough to peak at Ethari out of the corner of his eye. “Promise not to laugh?” Ethari nodded. Callum took a deep breath and blurted out, “am I going to get breasts?”

With difficulty, the elf suppressed a giggle, only with the knowledge that he’d wondered that himself, enough to ask and get an answer. “No,” he said when he had full control of his voice again, “and yes.” He quickly went on in the face of Callum’s oncoming freakout. “We don’t develop a woman’s chest, but our bodies do sometimes develop enough in that area that we can feed our baby if we choose to. That’s actually why some of us get sore chests.”

The boy blanched and his blush vanished. “There is no way I’m doing that.”

Ethari shrugged. “You don’t have to. Magic just makes it so you can if you choose to.”

That peaked his interest. “Are you going to?”

That was a rather personal question, Ethari thought, but decided to answer it anyway. “I don’t know. Runaan and I never got a chance to discuss it, or anything, really.” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his bump. “I wish he could talk to me.” He smiled at Callum, but it was a sad expression. “It’s a miracle that you recovered him, and I am grateful, but it’s hard. There’s so much I want to talk with him about.”

The prince shrugged. “Well, you can always use sign language.”

The elf’s eyes grew. “What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's taking a long time for me to update between chapters, but I am a full time mom with a thriving youtube channel in the middle of Corona and that makes finding the energy to write hard. Still, I will keep going for you lot and you can help recuperate my energy by commenting.


	14. Comradery is Built

The next two days of travel might have been fun for Ethari and Callum, but they were sheer annoyance for Rayla. The two were having a grand old time, riding side by side, Ethari trading some basic magic theory for Callum’s knowledge of fingerspelling. “Of course, most words have their own sign so you don’t have to spell everything out. This means father,” he lectures, holding out his hand with the palm flat and the fingers outstretched but tight together. The only outlying digit, the thumb, he placed on his forehead. “If you put it here,” as he moved his hand so the thumb was touching his chin, “it means mother.”

“Like this,” Ethari asked as he mimicked the sign, with one hand on the reigns and his eyes glancing between the road and his young teacher.

Callum shrugged. “Pretty much.”

Rayla saw a pause in the conversation and made to inject herself into the opening, but a slight look of wonder in her guardian’s eye made her hold back slightly. “So then,” he began as he moved the signing hand so the thumb touched his nose, “this would be us. Right in the middle of both.”

Callum’s carefully positioned fingers devolved into flailing as his face went red. “Well I mean, we don’t really have a sign for it since it hasn’t-“ That was when his flailing hand jerked on his reigns a little too hard and his horse veered into the bushes onto the side of the road. He quickly pulled on the reigns, correcting his mount’s course before they became truly entangled. They rode along in silence for a while and Ethari thought the subject dropped until Callum said quietly, “I think it would be something like this.” He held one hand in front of his chest with the fingers closed at the tips, then flung the tips outward until the hand was spread. He then made the gesture for ‘mother’ again. “Magic mother, since our Arcanum is kind of the father in this case.” He grinned at Ethari then with some trepidation but more anticipation. “I can’t wait to see the look on Aunt Amaya’s face when I explain that one.”

They rode in silence for a bit after that, Callum contemplating the revelation for his family and the various ways he could let them know, while Ethari watched him with a cautiously hopeful expression. Sure, he had floundered a bit, but the look on his face now spoke more of excitement and mischief than anything else. He decided to continue the lesson. “How do you sign ‘I missed you’”?

“Well, you can’t really do a past tense in sign language,” the prince started, “but the sign is easy enough. I,” He points to his chest, “miss,” he moved his hand so he touches his chin with only his index finger with the rest of his hand curled into a fist. Then he points the finger towards Ethari and says “you”. Then his lips quirked up in a smile. “Aunt Amaya, Ezran and I use that one a lot.”

“Who is this Aunt Amaya,” the older elf inquired. “Is she the reason you learned sign language?”

Callum nodded. “Yeah, she’s deaf, and also my mom’s sister. She a really great warrior, though, so don’t think you can get one over on her.” He cringed, seemingly at a very potent memory. “And also, never steal any desserts from her. Mom and she were really alike that way.”

Watching Callum relax as Ethari asked for more stories lifted Rayla’s spirits. She recognized a few of the landmarks along the sides of the road and knew they were getting closer to the city. Honestly, she had expected more travelers on the road, but they’d passed very few people. She waited until the prince finished his latest story involving a tavern brawl over something called pudding and then asked “Callum, why aren’t there more people on the road? We’re getting a lot closer to Katolis.”

Scratching the back of his head a bit sheepishly, he answered, “Well, this road pretty much goes straight to Xadia, and there’s not a lot of people who go there to trade and stuff. It’s really only kept in good shape for armies and traffic between the villages out here.” He threw an anxious glance at Rayla and a sideways one at Ethari, but then straightened with a more hopeful look on his face. “Buuut, now that the war is over and Xadia is letting some humans in, this road might see a lot more travelers soon, especially if people from Xadia want to come check out Katolis. I bet you guys don’t have anything like our pastries.” Rayla nodded, knowing he was right. Humans did seem to have a knack for creating delicious foods.

Callum vetoed arriving at the castle that night, the sixth since they’d left the Silver Grove. “We can’t just sneak in after dark, Rayla.”

With a quirk of her brow, she queried, “Why not? Ethari will be better off with a real bed, and the castle is just over that rise. A few more hours of riding would be worth it.”

Sighing the prince resigned himself to explaining. “Rayla, we’re coming back with an unknown elf. We have to send Marcus ahead of us to alert the guards and Ezran that we’re coming so he can greet Ethari like a guest of the palace. This has to look like an official visit, not like we’re sneaking him in.” She still didn’t look convinced, so he added, “Besides, we’d have to get through the whole city first, and that would take hours. We wouldn’t even reach the castle gates before midnight.”

Her eyes shifted towards her not-dad, who was in the process of laying out his bedroll next to where Marcus was starting on a campfire. Clearly, she had been passive-aggressively outvoted. “Fine,” she allowed as her shoulders slumped. “At least the bigger predators won’t come this close to the city.” 

Callum smiled and watched her head into the forest in search of firewood, as had become routine. Thankfully, she walked away from the rise, leaving his path clear. The young prince climbed the steady hill and sat with his back to one of the trunks. Cheerfully glowing in the distance, the sight of his home made him smile, but also nervous. He’d only learned the spell earlier that day, but he still wanted to try it. Breathing deeply he set a hand on his middle and whispered “corazon diminuto”. A rhythmic whooshing filled his ears and he smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically, I've decided Moon magic is spoken in Spanish.


	15. Making Our Approach

The next morning, Marcos took off for the city as soon as dawn broke over their little campsite. Rayla gave Callum a quizzical look when the soldier bolted towards the city just as they started pouring water on the fire. “He’s gone to tell Ezran we’re here,” the prince explained. “Ezran and probably Opeli will meet up at the city gates. It’s a royal protocol thing.”

“Seems pretty useless if you ask me,” she sniffed as she rolled up her blankets. “Why couldn’t we just go into the city and to the castle like we usually do?”

With a sigh, Callum tied his blanket roll to his horse’s saddle and looked back to his friend. “Whenever a foreign ambassador enters the capital city, he is greeted by a member of the council. Add to that the fact that Ethari is our guest, and it means that Ezran has to greet him personally.”

“Why,” asked the older elf. “Not that I’m not looking forward to meeting the Speaker King,” Ethari added with a smile at Callum, “but all these rules are rather baffling.” 

Callum looked around the camp for something else to do or pack, but when he found nothing, he gestured towards their horses. “Come on, Marcos shouldn’t get too far ahead. Ezran’s probably waiting already.”

With a teasing grin, Rayla swept a leg over her horse’s side and situated herself in the saddle. “I’ll just bet he is. Eager to meet his new niece or nephew?”

Rather than the blush or flailing she’d expected, Callum’s shoulders scrunched around his ears. “I don’t know. He hasn’t sent me any crow letters or a response of any kind. I don’t even know if he got my letter.”

There was a moment of silence before Rayla straightened her back and decided that, since she’d created the cloud over them, she might as well dispel it too. “So why does he have to greet us in person?”

With a sideways glare that told her the prince knew exactly what she was doing, he answered, “It’s because we want people to know you’re in Katolis for a reason.” 

Ethari nudged his horse and trotted until he was riding on Callum’s other side. “Why, have you been having trouble with elves?”

He shrugged. “Not with this, no, because we stuck to the rules. Every elf that came to Katolis was announced and greeted by a member of the council at the city gate. It used to be used in wartime so foreigners couldn’t claim to be here on the King’s business. If they were, everyone already knew who they were because they’d seen them coming in with the king or knew someone who did. If someone claimed to be working with the king, but no one had seen them together, people knew something was up and reported them. It can be a pain, but it helped a lot with weeding out spies during wartime.” He looked at Rayla and frowned at her surprised expression. “What? I like history.” Ethari chuckled. “Right now, though, we greet all elves this way by at least sending an ambassador. It helps the elves feel safe and important as well as deal with the people not suspecting them of anything. It works for everyone.”

“So what, we just have to wait until the wall guards notice us and tell Ezran we’re here?” Rayla scowled. That could take forever! 

But Callum shook his head. “No, that’s why Marcos went ahead. He’ll tell Ez we’re here. We’ll probably still have to wait, but not for long.” Then the prince pulls on his reigns and the two elves also stop their mounts, looking at him. “We’re here,” he says with a smile and gesture forwards.

Ethari looks up at his home for the next few months and has to admire it. The wall is a high, utilitarian structure with sturdy gates and two watchtowers on either side of the only visible entrance. “Does this wall run all the way around the city,” he asked.

Callum nods. “Yep! And We’ve got soldiers all the way around. Oh, wait.” He dug in one of his saddlebags and, not finding what he was looking for, looked at Ethari with a sheepish expression. “Do you have a cloak or something? To disguise the, uh…” He gestured at his torso.

“I can’t possibly hide it the whole time I’m here, Callum. Why should I do so now?” the elf gently scolded. 

Callum cringed. “I know, and I’m not asking you to hide the whole time you’re here. But we need to decide how we’re going to tell people about this, and there are a few people who need to be here for that talk who aren’t yet. Besides,” he said with a bit of a smile. “If we don’t hide yours, mine will hopefully not be such a big surprise when I start…” He blushed and ducked his head.

Rayla reached across and put a hand on his shoulder, making him smile gently. Then they both looked at Ethari. The mage held up a hand and chuckled gently. “Alright, I’ll get my cloak. Can you hold my reigns, Rayla?”

The girl grabbed the offered leaher strips and waited for her guardian to find the mentioned piece of clothing. I could always have a little fun while we wait, she thought gleefully. She turned a thoughtful eye on Callum, making sure he noticed.

His reaction was perfect. “What?” One eyebrow lifted as he watched her visibly scan his profile. He crossed his arms as she continued to stare at him.

Mock-thoughtfully, Rayla put a hand on her chin. “Well, how long have you been pregnant?”

Still, on guard, Callum answered, “since the night we defeated Viren. Why?”

Rayla’s eyes bugged out. It had really been that long? “Face forward,” she ordered. He heard the change in her voice and did as she asked. “Pull your tunic tight.”

He scowled at her then. “Rayla, this isn’t funny.”

“Not, it’s not,” came a voice from behind them. Ethari mounted again with his cloak wrapped around his shoulders and sent Rayla a sharp look. Then he smiled at Callum. “I think that was about two months and two weeks ago, right Callum?” The boy nodded sharply, expression uneasy. “Then you don’t have to worry about anyone seeing.” The prince deflated into a relieved hunch. “Even if you do start showing soon, it will be very small. You’ll be able to hide it with your clothes for quite a while, since you’re only having one. Why don’t you ride ahead and see if they’re ready for us?”

The prince got his horse to walk ahead and Ethari looked sternly at his ward. “I know you like to tease, but let him be about this. He deserves to have that discovery to himself.” Properly chastised, Rayla followed Ethari and Callum to the gates that were just starting to open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last travel chapter, I promise. What should Ezran's reaction be to seeing Callum again, knowing he's gonna be an uncle? And I'm so glad you guys think the emotional bits are good, I really struggle with those.


	16. Entering Katolis

Erzan patted his horse’s neck for the third time in five minutes, trying to calm him down. Or course, his mount’s restlessness was entirely his own fault. He was getting more impatient and even more excited the longer he waited for the gate to open. Tapping his toes in the stirrups was the only squirming he was allowed to do with Opeli watching him and giving him disapproving looks if he so much as slouched, but the motion kept transmitting his restless energy to his horse, thus the need for constant soothing.

Finally, a small door near the main gate opened and the king recognized Marco leading in his horse. “Your Highness,” the soldier started, “The prince, the elf Rayla, and their companion are waiting for you outside the gates.”

“Okay, let them in,” he said, trying hard to keep his voice level. I must be king-y, he thought, and kept his rigid posture as he felt Opeli’s eyes on him. One of the guards passed the message to those in the tower and slowly, the great structure of wood and iron bands creaked open. As soon as they were halfway, Ezran gently nudged his horse and the party walked forward towards the opening doors to meet the incoming trio right under the gate posts. He knew there was a reason for that, but Callum probably knew it better than he did. He was always way more into history than Ezran.

As if summoned by his brother’s thoughts, Callum appeared. He was the first to meet them, riding at a trot and waving with one hand. Watching from the corner of his eye, Ezran saw Opeli smile and look away, which was as good as giving him permission to stop being majestic for five minutes. He quickly stopped his horse and dismounted as his brother did the same. But when Ezran looked back at the prince, he noticed Callum hadn’t gotten the message of we-can-be-normal-right-now. He bowed from the waist and said, “Greetings, my King. I have brought an elven ambassador from the Moonshadow elves to increase our knowledge of-“

A small boy-shaped missile cut him off as Ezran wound his arms around Callum’s middle and buried his face into his stomach. “Hello in there,” he said with a smile. “My name is Ezran, I’m your uncle. I can’t wait to meet you for real, but this is okay too.” Then he looked up at his furiously blushing brother and smiled at him too. “I’m glad you’re back. Did you bring Ethari and Rayla?” Then he released his grip a bit and leaned back with puzzlement. “Why are you blushing?”

Callum grabbed the pint-sized royal by the shoulders and pushed him an arm’s length away. “It’s nothing, I’m fine,” he stammered out without looking at Ezran. “There’s just…people watching.”

The young king rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, they just think I’m hugging you. I did miss you a lot.” This finally makes Callum smile and he hugs his shorter brother back. The sound of a throat clearing behind Ezran breaks the brothers apart and Opeli, looking faintly apologetic, nods towards the approaching elves coming towards the gates from behind Callum. Ezran fully disentangles himself from the short reunion and bows his head to the two still-mounted elves. “Greetings, Ethari of the Moonshadow elves. We are honored to have you as our guest for the foreseeable future. Oh, and,” he adds, smiling brightly, “it’s good to have you back Rayla.”

Surprisingly formal for her, Rayla puts a hand over her heart and bows from the waist. “King Ezran, we are honored by your hospitality.” Then she gives her father-figure a meaningful glance.

He quickly bows as well. “Yes, it is an honor. I hope I can help our two worlds understand each other better.”

This seems to satisfy Opeli, because she nods at the two foreigners and gestures to the open gates. “Please, let us continue to the castle to get you settled in the quarters prepared for you. Perhaps then we can open discussion with the rest of the council.” Ethari agreed that was a wonderful idea, so the brothers mounted up again and the party proceeded into the city.

Riding up to the castle was more colorful than Ethari expected. Crowds lined the streets, waving colorful banners and cheering as the party passed them. The Speaker King seemed to enjoy all the attention, waving nonstop at his people, and they responded in kind. Callum, riding next to his brother, waved too, if a little less enthusiastically. Then someone in the crowd, a small child from the voice, shouted, “Do Magic, do magic!” 

The demand made a grin crack the prince’s face and he quickly drew one of the simpler Sky magic runes. He yelled “Aspiro!” and sent a stream of wind right up into the sky between the rows of houses. The cheering reached a roar in response to the display and the brothers grinned together at their people. Privately, Ethari wondered at all of Callum’s worrying. With the amount of love just in this city, news of a new royal will be welcomed. He started to wave as well, but the woman who’d mentioned going into the city shot him a disapproving look. He put his hand back down and looked at Rayla for guidance. But surprisingly, she was waving at the crowd almost as hard as Ezran, sending bunches of little girls into giggles. He made a mental note to talk to his charge later about it.

A flash of darker brown caught his eye and he looked at the crowd again. Behind the lines of children and smiling adults, he could see a few people walking away, even some looking at him with most unpleasant expression. They were vastly outnumbered by the jubilant crowd, but they were still present. Perhaps Callum had been right to worry, though probably not the amount he did. 

Finally, they reached the smaller but no less sturdy gate leading into the castle proper. Solid stone and strong walls contrasted with the woodland dwellings of grace he’d lived in all his life, but he could still see a measure of beauty in the home of Katolis’s royal family. Once inside, the party fully dismounted and the older woman bowed before leaving to go inside. Ezran breathed in relief. “Okay, we’re free for a while. There’s a council meeting in a few hours, after lunch, but we’re free until then. You,” he grabbed his brother’s hand, “are coming with me and telling me everything.” Smiling, he added to Rayla. “Maybe you can show Ethari where your other dad is?” With that all thoughts of anything other than reunion fled the elf’s mind as a grinning Rayla led him inside the castle.


End file.
